Let me rant for a while!!!

[Don90]

Wah lau! After buying and adding plants from both C328 and polyart, My malayan shrimps are dropping like flies!!

I did a 50% WC and hoped for the best, but the next day, one of my zebra otos died.

WAH PIANG! when is the next season??!!! Now only left one zebra oto!

The zebra oto has been with me since early february and has been doing well since then, but after adding the plants, my sensitive fauna died!

Hopefully my platinum cardinals are not affected.

Why are the plants like that? they add poison to kill the snail is it?!!!!! Or they add strong fert?

What do you guys do when you buy plants? do you encounter such problems?

[ccs]

Usually will wash the plants clear the wool and cut the roots before planting in.By the way I also did a 50% water change and found my tetra dropping like flies too. Was suspecting could be due to water change.

[Don90]

you also encounter this problem?

I'm certain that the problem lies with the plants as my zebra oto has been very hardy since the day it arrived.

Thats it, no more plants for me. And how to prevent this problem from happening? And how long will the "poison" stay in the tank?

[DanGoh59]

Bro,

Did you stir up the substrate a lot when you did the planting?
If yes, then it could have led to your fishes' death as toxic matter
are released to the water from the substrate.

Generally, I would encountered exactly what you've encountered
when I do a replanting or rescaping of my 4-foot planted tank,
That's when I pulled up my plants and no matter how careful I'm,
I will encounter a few death. That's why I also lost both my zebra
and tiger otos! When are they coming back?

I know one of the advice is to remove fish when you do massive
rescaping. But you know It's almost impossible to catch my fish -
cardinal tetras, ruby teras, galaxies, etc, in a heavily planted 4 ft
tank. The other thing is that I'm a 1-tank guy and i really have no
proper place to temporary house my fish as the rescaping would take
quite a while. I could use a pail but then I have quite a lot of fish.
So, I've try to live with it.

I have not encounter any death with introducing new plants. Just
be careful and you should be alright. For replanting, especially for
those with deep, deep roots - you really have no choice no matter
how careful you are.

Over time, I've learn to lessen the casualty. I would try to remove
only a few plants at one go. I would time it during my weekly water
changes so that after pulling up one plant, I can quickly siphon off
any debris around the pulled up plant spot. I would also add water
conditioner and fish vitamin like S7 to strengthen the fish against
any attacks.

Just sharing my experience.

[Don90]

I didn't really "stir" the substrate.

I just "pierced" the plant in as they are all tall stem plants with little or no roots, so don't really need to stir the substrate as it was quite easy to put it in.

Btw, when are zebra otos coming back? my other zebra oto is lonely now...

[CK Yeo]

What are the plants?

But then again, hydrogen sulphide kills too. From anaerobic substrate, likely because too thick or has compacted over time. Got bubbles when you poke?

ck

[illumnae]

you could have just been unlucky in having some pesticide or pollutant on your plant or it may have been other factors that affected your water quality. i've done a total rescape of my tank with 2 zebra otos inside before with plants from c328, and the zebra otos continued doing well.

[Don90]

Hmm.... where the hydrogen sulphide come from?

the substrate wasn't really disturbed. Its like inserting a straw into a sandpit. Not much disturbance to the substrate.

As for plant ID, I bought the $1 ones from C328 and 1.20 reddish stem plant from polyart. So I don't really know what type.

[Don90]

Hi illumnae, what kind of pollutants are there in the plants and by pesticides, do you mean the snail killing type?

What about fert?

thanks

[Shadow]

most likely like what illumnae said, can pesticide or maybe snail killer. Hapen to me before when I bought plant from NA. Now I always make sure was properly or even put it in the bucket for couple of days before planting.

[Don90]

Is there anyway to get rid of the pesticide?

Can put the plant in a bucket, then put a bag of active carbon inside?

will it have any effect?

[bossteck]

Hi Don,

Did you rinse or soak the plants?

Just a wild guess, but I think you probably made things worse by doing a large percentage water change. Should have done a 20% water change, throw in a pack of activated carbon (always keep these handy) and probably add an air stone.

[Don90]

Hi Don,

Did you rinse or soak the plants?

Just a wild guess, but I think you probably made things worse by doing a large percentage water change. Should have done a 20% water change, throw in a pack of activated carbon (always keep these handy) and probably add an air stone.

Actually, I didn't do any WC after adding the plants.

It is only after the malayan shrimps died 2 days later that I decided to do a 50% WC.

And the strange thing is that the shrimps all died at the same spot as the plants as I planted them at the left hand side of the tank.

[juggler]

Some plant farms treat their plants with mild bleach to get rid of snails or whatever before export. This could explain the shrimp death if we did not wash or soak the plants before planting.

But then - did you buy the plants pre-packed in bags or those that are already soaking in the display tanks?

[Don90]

I bought those already soaking in the display tanks....

BTW, what do you guys do when you get plants? after washing them thoroughly I mean..

[Fei Miao]

These plants are from the farms and usually will have pesticide and some bleach in them, it is unlikely the shop will wash them before putting them in the tank for sale, the amount of pesticide the remains in the plant when you bought them depends on how long the plants has been sitting in the tank so do not assume that the plants are free from chemicals even if these are in the tank. Remember you have precious fauna in your the tank, while the tank in the shop is just a show-tank.

I always runs these with water before adding in.

[mictok]

I bought those already soaking in the display tanks....

BTW, what do you guys do when you get plants? after washing them thoroughly I mean..

I will usually put them in a separate plastic tank,put in new water,leave it for 24 hrs and put in some fish and shrimp to make sure that it is ok before putting it into the planter tank.
Not just a particular LFS but I will treat the same case to all plants from any shops.
Learn a lesson when my whole tank of cherry and tiger shrimps got wipe out within 3 hrs with some posionous substance in new plant.

[PCKH]

I read somwhere in this forum that the fertilizers the use for the plants will kill the shrimps,....all my Yamatos dies after I introduce the plants without soaking and I used to wonder why. So from now, I soak for a couple of hours before I introduce them to my tanks. no problems now.

[Don90]

Wah this is an expensive lesson for me.....

hopefully no more casualties anymore.

I think I better let go of my "galaxy rasboras" since they're endangered!

what can I do now? should I do another WC?